This is a post we came across that is relevant to what we are doing and our hope to see students who are desiring God in their lives and their schools.

Interview with John Piper: Audio Transcript

A podcast listener named Lawson writes in with a great question: “Pastor John, this Fall I entered high school as a freshman. I want to know, how can I be a Christlike example in my school and among my classmates? I feel that God has called me to minister to them in some way, but I don’t know exactly how to do this. Over the next four years, what are some practical steps I can take to redeem these years for the gospel?”

Lawson, as I look back over my high school days, it was a long time ago. I am 70. And as I ponder what I see in the Bible and think about God’s calling on your life, expressed in your words, which I am so thankful for, seven things come flooding to my mind to suggest for you to pray about and consider.

1) First, gather a few friends with a similar desire, maybe from your church, neighborhood, where you have got your Christian friends. I hope it is your church. And set aside with them some regular time, maybe thirty minutes a week. That is what I do with my friends. Or ten or fifteen minutes a day at the beginning of school where you read a short passage of Scripture. Like maybe take one minute to read a passage of Scripture and then pray for ten minutes or fifteen minutes or thirty minutes — whatever you have planned — that God would help you, fill you with the Holy Spirit, fill you with boldness, give you guidance. And then go on into your day together as a band of brothers. And maybe you will call that group the Four-Twenty-Nine Group. And the reason I say that is because of Acts 4:29–31,

And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness, while you stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus.” And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness.

Oh, I wish I had done that as a teenager: had myself a small group, a band of brothers pray down God’s power and been more bold.

2) Brainstorm together with your group of friends about proactive, visible good deeds that you could do for others at school or in the neighborhoods. And I say this because of 1 Peter 2:12, “Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable” — Gentiles means unbelievers — “so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation. Good deeds, Lawson, of course, never can replace words that explain the gospel and why you love Christ. In fact, just three verses earlier in 1 Peter 2:9 he said, “Proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.” But practical good deeds have an important role to play, and they can put to silence the criticism that Christianity just means not doing certain things.

My dad used to love to quote one of his teachers. He would say: Do so fast you don’t have time to don’t. Because we were pretty serious Christians growing up and there were a lot of things we didn’t do because we were Christians. And he said: No, be so fast in doing, you don’t have time to don’t. That is what I am suggesting in number two.

3) Be on the lookout for lowly people, lonely people, hurting people, and step into their lives with interest and care and time that other people don’t care about giving. Romans 12:16, “Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight.” What an unusual teenager you will be if you do that.

4) Meet with the Lord alone early every morning, and get a good word from Scripture that you will keep in your mind as something precious and valuable and encouraging all day long. In other words, don’t just have devotions and come away with nothing stuck in your mind, but look for some single phrase or statement or promise or command that helps you and keep it in your mind. You might jot it on a little piece of paper and stick it in your shirt pocket. That is what I used to do.

This will serve you all day long for encouragement and it will be there if somebody gets into a conversation with you and asks you: What does it mean for you to be a Christian? And you can smile and say: You know, just this morning I was talking to God and he was talking to me. Now, he doesn’t talk with a voice. He talks in the Bible. He was talking to me and this is what he said. And then you quote your verse or you get out your little piece of paper. And you read them and you say: That is encouraging me all day long. That is what it means for me to walk with God. Jesus said, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4). So, take a word, take a phrase and go with it all day long for encouragement and readiness.

5) Plan activities with your friends that you can invite unbelievers to be a part of. In other words, don’t wait for the crisis where they invite you to go to something that you are not sure you can go to. And then you have to say no and you might simply look like somebody who doesn’t like people or doesn’t have any friends. Beat them to the happy punch. Show them that you love to have them join you by doing proactive thinking ahead of time that plans something that you and your friends can do, and then you are asking them constantly to join you rather than the other way around.

6) If you have parents — now, I don’t know your family situation — but if you have parents who love what you are doing, try to make your home a hub of relationships with your friends: unbelievers and believers. So many young people out there that you relate to don’t have any homes like that. They wouldn’t ever bring you over to their homes. Their parents are divorced or they are not there or they are always angry at each other or nobody is ever at home or they are watching television or they never pay any attention or they never do any proactive hospitality. They have never seen a beautiful family. And if you have one, show it off by making your home a hub of activity. Show young people that it is not uncool to hang out with or near adults.

7) And the last thing I would say is, like it says in 1 Peter 3:15, “In your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect.” Now, that doesn’t mean you need an advanced college degree in apologetics to defend your faith and have answers to every hard question that someone might ask. It doesn’t mean that. He is not saying that.

What he is saying is that you should be ready simply to tell someone why you have hope in Jesus. And the answers are in 1 Peter 1. He died for you. God is merciful towards you. He raised Jesus from the dead. He promises the forgiveness of sins. In other words, you recite the gospel as the foundation of your hope. Peter is not telling us to prove anything. He is telling you to explain to them why you have hope, why you believe.

So, Lawson, praise God for what he has put in your heart for this year, and I pray that this will be the best year yet for you and that God will fill you with wisdom and grace like he did Stephen in Acts 7 whose words were so mighty, so gracious, so full of the Spirit that his adversaries could not resist him (Acts 6:10, 15–7:55).

John Piper (@JohnPiper) is founder and teacher of desiringGod.org and chancellor of Bethlehem College & Seminary. For 33 years, he served as pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church, Minneapolis, Minnesota. He is author of more than 50 books, including A Peculiar Glory.

Merry Christmas!

What a year it has been. While there are still 23 days left of the year, we are in evaluation and implementation mode looking into 2017. So first of all, let me share a couple things about 2016.

From the Blue Ridge, TN chapter in October:  100% of First Priority Clubs that shared the Gospel that month saw at least one student respond!

From the Shreveport, LA chapter:  During the month of October, over 1,000 students participated in clubs, 13 responded to the gospel by committing their lives to Christ, 29 asked to talk with someone about the gospel, and 26 asked for help find a local church student ministry!

The South Florida chapter recently announced the launch of their 200th club! This morning Chris said it was at 202. Great news reaching a great goal.

In total, we have 48 new clubs in new schools in 2016! Some of those clubs were started by the 8 new leaders in new locations! The best part is that the Good News of Jesus is being proclaimed by students to their peers and 1,000+ students have responded already this fall!

2017 is looking to build even more momentum. We have 8 people who are already trained to implement First Priority and are currently networking churches to get 1-3 clubs going the first of next year. In addition to that, our goal is to train and launch another 25 people to bring the ministry concept of First Priority back to their community.

If you know someone who might find passion in the First Priority model of ministry, would you send them our direction? Have them check out www.fpofamerica.com for an overview of who we are. If they check out www.firstpriority.club, they will see some of the details of the ministry. Our next training is January 23-24 in Nashville, TN.

Brad Schelling

First Priority of America

As you can see, the new First Priority logo includes the word “church” which seems to invoke a lot of questions, and sometimes even controversy. In this edition, I will cover how and why the church is vital in its support of First Priority clubs.

Let’s start with how churches are a part of the campus club equation. Primarily, it is in church youth groups where training and support are provided for students who want to initiate and lead campus clubs. Secondarily, churches support student efforts to participate in the community and to help schools with high-needs. This symbiotic relationship provides an outlet for students who love God and want to share his love with others.

Now for “why” churches support First Priority clubs. Jesus told the disciples: “So, wherever you go in the world, tell everyone the Good News [about Jesus]” Mark 16:15 (GWT). Because First Priority clubs give students a venue for sharing the “good news”, it makes sense that churches would support their efforts.

Please join us in prayer for students and for local churches. Together, we can positively impact this generation.

“Dear Friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.” 1 John 4:7 (NIV)

Amber Johansen
Executive Director
First Priority of Tampa Bay
amberjohansen9@gmail.com

We had set out early that morning, a van full of teenagers on the way to camp. Before we left we had prayed, like we always do, and asked God for safety as we traveled. We loaded the van and seven hours later we are almost at camp. We are just getting past Chattanooga, TN and the traffic starts to clear. For the first time in a long time we had a little open space on the road. I pulled over to the far left lane. There was no reason to do so, but as I decided in my mind I should pull back in the middle lane a tire on truck that used to be beside us went out pulling him into the middle lane! Fortunately no one was injured, but I reflected that we had been in that lane just seconds before, had we been there when the truck tire blew we would have been in a horrific accident. I prayed quickly in that moment a prayer of thanks but once we arrived at camp I reminded our students that we had asked God for safe travels and he answered our prayers. Sometimes we are able to pray small prayers in the moment based on larger prayers that we have prayed before.

Then the king said to me, “What are you requesting?” So I prayed to the God of heaven.(Nehemiah 2:4 ESV)

Have you ever had one of those situations where it seemed like nothing was happening, but then all of the sudden everything was happening? Nehemiah is in one of those moments. He has been in mourning for his people. He has been fasting, praying and asking God to use him, to use his position with the king, and then all of the sudden the king asks him a question. What do you do in a moment like that? When it seems like your whole future will swing or not swing on the hinge of the next few moments? You pray!

To be sure it wasn’t a long and drawn out prayer. He didn’t hush the king and ask for time to run to the chapel. He quickly and humbly in his heart prays to God. His prayer has been anchored in the foundation of intentional prayer where he has been for the last several months. Remember his emotion was brought into focus by prayer and fasting; now he sees the hand of God moving to answer his prayer. Nehemiah can’t help but confess his dependence on Him.

Nehemiah avoids every opportunity to declare himself a great man and instead has to declare that God is a great God! This is what humble leadership looks like. Before he will launch into any kind of four point plan, or share his dreams about a wall being completely rebuilt, or even ask the king for advice he goes straight to God and acknowledges that this could only be a work of God’s hand and so he moves forward holding on to that hand, not trying to navigate this alone.

Blog from Jonathan Hill

There is a huge opportunity for unity among the church community while casting vision to launch evangelistic movements inside public middle and high schools. The “I’m Not Ashamed” film highlighting the story of Rachel Joy Scott, the first student killed in the Columbine tragedy in 1999, will come to theaters on October 21, 2016. First Priority is partnering with the film because Rachel’s story highlights the struggle for Christians in our teenage culture, the loneliness of a public school setting, and what God can do when a teenager wants to shine for Jesus. We are on the road this week pre-screening in dozens of communities across America. Here is what we are seeing happen:

“Orlando was last night. The theater was full and hearts were open and engaged. I was given the opportunity to share both at the beginning and at the end and introduce FP for really the first time in the Central Florida Area. People came from everywhere, met people from Daytona to Lakeland.  God was proclaimed, vision cast and doors opened for FP with several churches across the greater Orlando area. Following up with several this week.”
Eric

“Last night in Miami we had a good turnout. The theater was full. Everyone seemed to be engaged and ultimately moved by the movie. There was a lot of good feedback from all ages. I actually had a few teenagers at the event who said they really connected with what Rachel was going through, so I am excited to see how much excitement is generated by students once it opens.”
Mike

Join us in prayer as we seek leaders to rise up in every community in America. We believe the body of Christ is alive and well and that there are Christian students everywhere who feel alone in their faith, struggle with acceptance and popularity, desire to be light in the darkness, and simply need to be sent to school with the gospel. Will you join the movement?

Brad

Watch the trailer HERE

Like PUREFLIX on Facebook

Like the “I’M NOT ASHAMED” Facebook page

“Leadership begins when you become aware of yourself.” I’ve heard that a couple of times this past week in 2 different podcasts and this book that I am reading by John Powell, “Why I am afraid to tell you who I am”. As I heard that statement, I read the section below by John. My thinking was that this rang true of me and gave me a sense of opportunity to stand tall and engage people. Even if I had a bad encounter the day before with someone, I am no longer the same and neither is the person I had a bad encounter with. This perspective has helped me to grow, even in the last week, and stay open to what each person had to offer in relationship that day. Read below and let me know what you think: brad@fpofamerica.com.

Peace,
Brad

“If I am anything as a person, it is what I
think
judge
feel
value
honor
esteem
love
hate
fear
desire
hope for
believe in
and
am committed to.

These are the things that define my person, and they are constantly in process, in the process of change. Unless my mind and heart are hopelessly barricaded, all these things that define me as a person are forever changing.

My person is not a little hard core inside of me, a little fully formed statue that is real and authentic, permanent and fixed. My person rather implies a dynamic process. In other words, if you knew me yesterday, please do not think that I am the same person that you are meeting today.

I have experienced more of life, I have encountered new depths in those I love, I have suffered and prayed, and I am different.

Please do not give me a “batting average,” fixed and irrevocable, because I am “in there” constantly, taking my swings at the opportunities of daily living. Approach me, then, with a sense of wonder, study my face and hands and voice for the signs of change; for it is certain that I have changed. But even if you do recognize this, I may be somewhat afraid to tell you who I am.”

via John Powell in his book, “Why Am I Afraid to Tell You Who I Am?”

People talk about love all the time. The people we love. Places we love. Things we love. But the question becomes, if there is so much love out there, why am I afraid to tell you who I am? John Powell thinks there are a few reasons for this phenomenon in our culture and has written about it in his book by the same title, “Why am I afraid to tell you who I am?”

The first reason is the Cliche. We say things like, “I love pirates”, because we saw the movie ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ and we feel like we know enough about them to enjoy their company. Now, at this stage, it is key to know that while people do not know much about each individual pirate, they use generalizations in order to make a connection with the pirates that they encounter. People at their heart want to know and be known by those people around them. So, when we meet a pirate, we try our hardest to make an instant connection through what we think we know. That is “cliche”.

The second thing that happens in building a relationship is Fact. We start to say what is true of us as a person to navigate the pirate label that we’ve been given. Things are said like, “Yes, I am a pirate, but I was born in Iowa and grew up in a small town.” Facts enable us to work through the Cliche’s that we have towards each other.

As we learn facts about each other, we develop an opinion. This is when we start saying what we think about the pirate in front of us after we get to know how his Iowa small town background effected why he became a pirate.

It is at this point when we can touch our toe into the space of Emotion. We have a new opinion, we make a few statements, and we fall “in love” with our new pirate friend. What we do not often realize about our culture in general, is that we do not like this place very much. We quickly run back to the cliche, gather a few new facts and build our next opinion. This type of lifestyle is much safer. Well, it feels safer anyway. But we do not realize that we have not reached the final place of being known and truly loved.

If we do not run back to the beginning, back to cliche, we can get to the final place of transparency. This is the place where you are able to go to a friend and say, “when you said that thing in the group the other day, that really hurt me.” and you are able to work through it and grow from it. It is the place where someone knows something (bad) about you and you allow them to invest in you without running away.

Our culture does not provide us with the necessary capacity to live in either emotion nor transparency. If you’ve only lived in the west, you will have to exercise this in order to make it normal. This is so true of us that when we do have an argument or momentary deep conversation, we feel like we suddenly have a connection when in reality we just dipped our toe past an opinion. In First Priority, transparency can take a while. When you are uniting the local churches, not only are there the personal relationships to develop, but the idea of theological differences hangs over those relationships. It leads to, “This pastor is Church of Christ or Southern Baptist or Reformed, I wonder if he believes ________?” To develop transparency, it takes time. It takes the intellectual flexibility to stand in relationship united in Jesus even if other things do not jive.

Peace for the moment,
Brad Schelling
2 Timothy 2:2

Get the book HERE

Where does meaning come from? Viktor Frankl in his book “Man’s Search for Meaning” shares a couple of thoughts to this end. Viktor is a Psychologist and Holocaust survivor who tells his story through the years he spent in the concentration camps. Here are his three ideas.

Work on something that is good for the world.
Being (exist) in a community where you experience deep love.
Redeem the events of your past.

Number one on the list is having your ‘why’ of life answered. Knowing why you are doing something helps you to endure any ‘how’. You find meaning in life by having purpose and working towards that cause that brings good to the world. This is the reason that volunteering at the local food bank feels good inside. It is where the statement, ‘It is better to give than receive’ takes on meaning at Christmas. By working on something that is good for the world, you find purpose in life. This is the reason I got into ministry. 1 John 3:16 says, “This is how we know what love is, Jesus gave up his life for us and we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.”

The second part is this: You can work to save the world, but if you do not have people around you who know you personally, the meaning of life is also not there. Jesus had that community with his Father and the Holy Spirit. He spent time early every day with them. The core of our existence is being created in the image of God. God is 3 in 1, the Trinity. We were created for community. I am going to share a little more on this in next week’s blog post. For now, I will say that we need to be transparent. We need people in our life who we can speak into and who can speak into us. Those who can come and say, ‘When you said this, it hurt.’ And you can work through it and become a better person because of the transparency.

Finally, we get to redeeming the events of your past. Starting out, this implies working through the bad that has happened to us or the bad we have done to others. The good doesn’t need redeeming. So how do we carry the shame, guilt, and/or pain of the past? How can we work to let that go? Like the first two, this is also not a solo mission, but a community event. Whether it is deep or a mere flesh wound, we need people to walk through it with us. Sometimes that community is simply going back and seeking forgiveness. Sometimes that is sitting at the gravestone and saying what was never said. Sometimes that is grabbing a friend, writing the past on a piece of paper, and burning it forever.

You must practice all three of these things together. 30 years ago, 1 in 10 Americans stated they didn’t have any close friends. Today, that statistic is 1 in 4. I think that foundation for changing the direction of all this in our society begins in Acts chapter 2. They were DEVOTED… they were in it together. They ate together. They shared their passions and possessions together. More people came around to be a part of the rest of eternity. They found the meaning of life. Together.

Brad

Special thanks to Jake Smith at Church of the City Nashville for bringing this topic and book to light in my life.

Mans Search for Meaning-Viktor Frankl

The day of this writing, Pat Summit, the great 38 year coach of the University of Tennessee Lady Vols, was celebrated by the University of Tennessee. She is the winningest coach in NCAA women’s basketball history. She answered this question that was re-aired in a recent Entreleadership podcast (https://www.entreleadership.com/podcasts/154-jocko-willinkhow-to-lead-and-win): What are the non-negotiable and essential characteristics of a championship team? “Offense sells tickets, defense wins games, rebounding wins championships. Understand what our goals are and meet those. You might have an off shooting night. You should never have an off night on defense and rebounding. We should never have an off night on lack of communication. We need to be in this together and realize that it is not about the individual. We are winning for the team. We are winning for the university. We are winning for the greatest fans in college basketball.” Pat Summit (http://www.patsummitt.org)

Do you see any correlation between basketball and ministry? Below is mine, but I’d welcome your initial thoughts as well (email or Facebook me).

Every leader has their strengths, but you need to lead a well balanced team to be healthy in leadership. This applies in sports and ministry. All people like to play in their strengths. Leaders included. It is natural tendency of life. You may be a gifted worship leader. Your passion may be the fellowship of the church and enjoy helping people feel connected. You may be an evangelist by trade. But, like a basketball team, if you only focus on your area of giftedness, you will be flashy and attractive for a moment, but you will not win as many lives to the Lord as you could if you surrounded yourself with people who are good at things you are not. If you are an evangelist, get some students in your ministry to lead out in worship for the service. If you are a worship leader by heart, train some students to share the gospel in their school through the First Priority model of ministry (www.firstpriority.club). Surround yourself with people who are good at the other essential areas of ministry. If you want a quick list, Rick Warren’s (http://rickwarren.org) list of 5 purposes (http://www.purposedriven.com) at Saddleback is a great place to start.

The basketball and church leader comparison is finalized in this: the seats will eventually be empty if you do not put a team of people together who understand the bigger picture and play their role. “I’ve never scored a basket for the University of Tennessee. I’m starting my 36th year at UT. It is all about the people you surround yourself with.” Pat Summit

Peace for today,
Brad